April 2020

4/26 - we had grammy and gramps over for dinner - sitting outside social distanced.  It was fun to get to eat together and catch up.

4/25 - We had our first virtual wine tasting with one of our favorite wineries - Allora.  Fun to see the family that runs it, drink some wine and I think we even heard from the winemaker.

4/17 -  We had a family zoom.  Nina lead it and we did some family trivia, virtually shared drinks and had fun catching up.  This was pretty early using zoom.  Craig called in with a beach background and we thought he was someone random joining our call so he got kicked off (oops).  

4/9-4/12 - Easter.   We had Friday off, I think those of us working and doing school from home really needed an extra day.   Thursday night we had dinner at the house.  Yummy Jambalaya that Greg made.  After dinner we walked to Paciugo.  It was a 3 mile walk both ways but good exercise.  The area where it is was pretty deserted.  Several places closed and not many people even getting food.

Saturday we got up, not very early and went on a 3 mile hike and connemara.  It was nice to be outside and see flowers and butterflies.  We picked up Laynes for lunch on the way home :)

4/3-4/5 - Birthday weekend.  Its a little different having a birthday in quarantine.  We started the weekend with Good wine, Zoom with some friends.   Saturday Kasey and I were quite lazy in the morning.  Greg hiked and walked the dog before anyone else got going.  That night we went to pick up Del Frisco's to go. Yummy steak, salads and a appetizers.   I asked the kids to dress up from the waste up for a picture.  Greg put a jacket over under armour tshirt, Landon put on collared shirt with sports shorts and Kasey changed from pastel multi colored tshirt to a sweatshirt version :)  It's all good, we got a few pictures and had a nice dinner together.  Greg made chocolate cake which is always good. After Kasey, Greg and I watched Frozen 2.

Sunday we got breakfast from Eggquisite.  We got some for Grammy and Gramps too and delivered it to them.  We got a social distance picture because we can't hug them but got to see them on my birthday.  I got to have biscuits and gravy yum!   We went for a long walk in the afternoon.  We also went over to Greg's parents and had social distance discussion in the back yard.   Kasey and Greg made Quiches for us, and both grandparents.  Yummy new dish Greg found that we all really like.   

That night we had Mexican food from Chepas, they have yummy Sangria swirls to go :)

Mom got me some fun new jewelry and a card.   Neighborhood friends got me Reeses peanut butter cups and wine - they know me well.  That night we had a few moms and I had a virtual happy hour.  It was fun to see a few people and catch up some :)

4/2 - Landon found out today that he made the top band for 9th grade.  He was really excited :)

4/1 - Been working from home for 2 weeks.   Good and bad to being in home quarantine.  The good, I get to have lunch and dinner with the family every day, we are all exercising in some way just about every day, we are enjoying our wine fridge, we are trying to support local restaurants as much as we can, I'm able to have a room with closed door and extra screen to work and be on calls most of the day.   The tougher parts, not seeing people, worrying about family, just having a weird feeling because things aren't normal, and sad that events and things planned are mostly cancelled.  We will make it through this, but its tough for everyone.  Even Patch is kind of weirded out by us being home all the time.

March 2020

3/28 - Greg and I sat outside with some wine, the dog and some music.  It was nice to not be in the house for a little while

3/27 - we had Friday night wine night virtually with some friends.   We enjoyed some wine and getting to talk to friends remotely

 3/17 - Today was my first day working from home as recommended.  I had to be in the office a few days to help a new person onboard.   We'll see how this goes.  I have a window in my office now :)

3/12/20 - today all sports in US cancelled because of coronavirus- college and professional.  Greg joked he might have to watch Hallmark with me.  Ha!

3/6 - 3/11 - We went for short spring break to Broken Bow in Oklahoma.  We enjoyed some good food, relaxing, walks with patch and some fishing for some.  Everyone watched Avatar in preparation for our summer Disney trip.  Fun times.  We even found some favorite beers at Beavers Brewery.

3/1 - We sold off our boxes of cookies at our last booth.   The girls convinced a guy to buy our last 2 toffee tastics, they did awesome!

February 2020

 2/29 - Greg went to FC Dallas game then went to A&M baseball game.  I went with Kasey to her Pom Pom performance which was before a local Legends Basketball game.  It was really cool to see them perform on the court.  I took video so everyone else could see.

2/25 - Kasey got to work at the knick knack store at school.  Helping out with the money.

2/22 - Got to have a short girls weekend.  We went to Fort Worth, enjoyed Joe T Garcias with a pitcher of margaritas.  Then we checked into hotel, walked around the area some and headed to local distillery which was pretty cool.  We hung out some in the hotel then headed to the stockyards.  We had some yummy burgers and beer then got to sit in VIP section at the rodeo.    Fun night.   Afterwards we headed to Billy Bobs to watch and listen for a little while then headed back to the hotel for a few drinks and snacks.

The next morning we chilled out at the hotel then went to a good late breakfast on the way home.  Fun weekend with the ladies.

2/19 - Greg and Landon went to a Scouting dinner.  Greg got dressed up :)

2/17 - Kasey met her goal at of selling 800 boxes of cookies.  She was very excited, but our troop still had several boxes of cookies to sell.

2/14 - Greg got me flowers, and me made a very good beef tenderloin and okra.  Grammy brought us mini pies that were yummy and we had treats from Fredel to top off Valentines day. 

2/9 - We went to Cheesesteak factory to celebrate Grammy's birthday.  Good food and dessert, and good company.  For some reason the service took forever that night.

2/8 - Greg and I decided to go out for early valentines.  We basically did a bar hop at area right by the house.   We had fun :)

2/6 - Landon got to perform with jazz band.  Probably the only time because French Horns aren't really in jazz band and Landon said it wasn't his favorite music.

January 2020

 1/28 - After work I headed to the middle school for PTA meeting and the hear the SRO officers talk about what middle school kids are doing these days.  A bit scare but good to get some more education.  Then I headed to the elementary school to talk to 6th grade parents about several things that are different in middle school.

1/25 - Kasey had a cookie booth at Grammy and Gramp's place.  She sold lots of cookies in a few hours and it was fun to meet people that Grammy and Gramps are becoming friends with.

1/23 - I had a work HH with other managers at Ten Times Cellar.  It was fun to try some wine and have snacks together. Its nice getting to talk to colleagues about things other than work.

1/17 - Cookies season started, its time for another year of cookie selling 

1/12 - We had another sewing session with the girls for their Bronze award.  It was neat to see them get further and do a little better this time.

1/11 - We woke up in the morning and it snowed for about 5 minutes.  Kasey went outside for a few minutes with no shoes and short sleeve pajamas.   It didn't last long, but it was pretty.  Greg and I went to a Boy Scout award dinner.   Greg got an award from the troop for all of the work he does with them.  Proud of him, only 2 adults from our troop got the same award.

1/5 - the  girls came over for to work on sewing for their bronze award for the first time.   Some picked it up faster than others, but they all did a good job and helped each other out some too.

1/3-4 - Family Girls weekend.  Kasey and I got up, went to the salon to get our nails done, got some food, started watching a Netflix Christmas movie.  Grammy came to pick us up and we headed down south.

We got down there and headed to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  Yummy food, margaritas and family.

Then we went back to my aunts house, talked, had several drinks, got the younger girls to bed and stayed up late talking.  Fun times with laughs and discussions.    The youngest cousin there stayed where we were while her mom slept next door.  She got up in the middle night and ended up sleeping with Grammy and I.  Not sure any of us slept well, but that's ok.  I got up with her the next morning to make waffles.   I ended up taking a nap after others got up.

Eventually we all got showers, and other family members came over.   We had several snacks and food most of the day.  The kids ran around playing and the adults sat round the table eating and talking.   After family left that was going home, we started getting tired.  So we decided to play at game even the kids.  We played Smart Ass which was really fun.

Great time with family, girls time, good food and a few drinks.

1/4/2020

From boys Ski trip - We had another great day on the slopes.  Today was full of accomplishments for many.   Some scouts used their snow sport skills to attempt the first green, blue, or even black ski slope.  Others improved their confidence and skills by enjoying multiple runs down their favorite slopes.  We also had multiple scouts complete the slopework for the snow sports merit badge (Thank You Mr. Ellison!).  In total, it was another fun filled day of fun at Ski Apache.

Ski Apache is a great opportunity for adults to have fun while helping the troop.  I was very glad to see many new faces attending this year.  I personally had a great time getting to know our scout parents better.  Hopefully they also enjoyed spending time with our troop leadership learning about the traditions and stories of our troop.  In addition, there is no better meal in town than feasting on fantastic food with friends at the La Junta lodge (Thank You Mr. Vanek!). 

Campouts are a great way to see first hand how scouting is building confidence and enhancing the character of our sons.  Our troop can always use more active adults to help in all sorts of roles.  In fact, we were able to complete a "Board of Review" last evening since we had enough committee members (registered adult who is not a scout leader) at Ski Apache.  We have an excellent opportunity to learn more about this critical role at our first ever "Coffee and the Committee" meeting on January 13th.  I hope to see many of you there during our normal scout meeting.

We will be departing Riudoso around 9 AM(MST).  This will put us in Synder, Tx around 2 pm for a late lunch.  With this in mind, our projected arrival time will be around 7 PM (CST).  Scouts will always call when we are thirty minutes away, but please be on standby to meet us at Palmer Hall at Suncreek Church tomorrow evening.  If anything drastically changes, I will send out an update.

1/3/2020 - 

From boys ski trip - Today was an excellent skiing day.  The weather was fantastic and the snow was even better.  We had several scouts and scouters attend ski school in the morning and were already cruising the slopes in the afternoon.  We returned to the ski lodge to take showers and enjoy some down time while the adult leaders prepared a filling and delicious dinner (featuring an appetizer, soup, and dessert course).  Everyone is doing well and I am expecting all to get a good nights rest after the fun today.  

1/1/2020 - We got up in the morning and left around 9:30am.  We took the train down.   It was really crowded downtown so we took the train further to West End to switch trains.  It worked out pretty well to get to Fair Park.  We walked to the stadium, got some food and went to our seats.    It was a really cool event.  Good hockey game and the Stars won.  They had music including a pretty good cover band, Midland and Dan and Shea.   They also had state fair themed entertainment - pig races, ropers, Aggie Ranglers, guy riding a big cow with horns :).    Very fun, I'm glad we went.

December 2019

 12/31 - We didn't do to much during the day.  The 4 of us went to early dinner at Blue Fish.  That's where Greg and I used to go for New Years Eve.   We went to friends party in the evening to say hi and have a few drinks then came home to celebrate with the kids bringing in the new year.   Around Midnight Greg got an idea to get tickets to the Winter Classic Hockey game the next day.  Luckily Grammy and Gramps were up at their own party so when we texted to see if they could keep the kids (they didn't want to go) they could answer :)

12/25 - Christmas Day - Kasey came in at 8:30am and said it was time for presents.   Santa brought Landon earpods and Kasey Peppa Pig doll house.    We took our time and got ready.  Then we headed to lunch and Christmas with Greg's family.  We had enchiladas, yummy dessert and then got to catch up with family.  It was a nice afternoon.

12/24 - Christmas Eve - I was up til about 3am wrapping presents.  We got up and walked Patch, got ready, had quick late lunch then headed to Grammy and Gramps place for Christmas Eve.   We started with Nachos and Margaritas. Kasey, Grammy and I sat on the balcony with Grammy's tree.  We ate yummy tacos, opened presents, and had yummy dessert.  Then we played a curling game that Landon got and walked down the hall to game room to play darts and poker. We all had a good time and enjoyed spending time together.

We came home, got cookies and milk out for Santa, the kids put reindeer food in the yard and it was off to bed for the kids.   I still got to read them the night before Christmas.  Kasey and I had watched the Santa Claus Movies - so she wanted me to say Scott Calvin instead of  Santa Claus.

12/22 - Today was our Girl Scout skating event.  We have over 150 people skating.   The troops got their pictures with Santa and each girl scout got some treats (made by the girls), some reindeer food for Santa's reindeer.  The event went pretty well overall.   Afterwards several of the families from our troop went out to dinner at Kelly's.  The moms go out pretty often, but we don't do it often if ever with our spouses.  It was a fun night.

12/21 - Kasey and I spent the morning prepping with my co-leader for Skating with Santa event that our troop is leading.

That night Greg and I had a neighborhood wine party.   We closed down the party which was fun. We ended up bringing all the wine bottles home to recycle - it was a lot :)

12/20 - The kids had 1/2 day today.   Several weeks ago Greg had gotten us tickets to see Star Wars.  Chip - our Elf, brought tickets.  Kasey was not excited, but Landon was.   We also made reservations to have a nice dinner after the movie at Knife.   Good steak dinner for the family.

12/17 - Kasey had an eye appointment today.  She is getting glasses. She goes from being excited to being nervous about it.

12/16 - It was our 19th wedding anniversary.  We spent the evening with Landon's Boy Scout troop 1299 - it was there 20th anniversary of when the troop was created.   They had several Troop masters and committee chairs from the beginning of the troop.  It was cool to hear from them what was important to them.  There were also several from the original troop and many of the boys who have gotten Eagle Scout through troop 1299.  It was a fun way to spend the evening.

12/14 - Today Landon finished up Regional workshop and they performed late afternoon.  They spent about 8 hours learning 5 pieces of music to play.  Landon enjoyed it but was pretty tired afterwards.

12/13 - Tonight we had our friend dinner.  We went to Knife and enjoyed good food, wine and friends.

12/12 - We got a text today that Landon will get to perform in Regional band this weekend. He was excited.

12/10 - Landon had his Christmas band concert tonight.  They got to play on the 9th grade stage which was nice.  He seemed to enjoy it.

12/8 - The boys got home from campout.  Landon was pretty tired.  Kasey had a Christmas piano recital in the afternoon and then she had an evening had a Pom Squad performance in Richardson.  She did well in both events.   The grandparents got to go to both.  Landon stayed home for both which Kasey thinks is very unfair because of all of Landon's sports games she's had to go to.

12/6 - The boys were leaving for a campout.  I got home to get Kasey and a friend.  We went to eat dinner then headed to the neighborhood party.  Always fun catching up with friends from the neighborhood, and the kids have fun running around.

Christmas Letter 2019

Hello family and friends:

I hope this letter finds everyone doing well. We’ve had another blessed year and hope you have as well.

I'm still working at TI, we are doing a huge project in one of my teams that will take over a year.

It's still fun but challenging. I did some traveling for work to China, Houston, Austin and the North East. This year I am doing web and VP of membership for the elementary school PTA and I am Treasurer for the middle school PTA. This made the late summer and fall really busy. I'm still co-leading Kasey's Girl Scout Troop. This year we are running a Skating with Santa event and the girls are working on their Bronze award. They have decided to make stuffed animals that they will donate to the local fireman and policeman (they use them to help calm kids in difficult situations). In the summer I worked at a local Girl Scout Twilight camp - this was mine and Kasey's 5th year to go.

Greg has been spending a lot of time training for Boy Scout Philmont trip next summer - its a big high adventure trip where they will hike 70-100 miles in 10 days - everyone has to train for it. He has lost over 50 pounds walking and eating better. He's still very involved in Landon's Boy Scout Troop doing advancement, adult training and organizing board of reviews. He's still doing clubhouse coordination for the neighborhood which can a bit crazy. This year for my team at work that is local Greg made desserts for them through the year. It ended up being a lot of desserts - we might need to cut back next year. For Kasey's birthday she wanted me to make a cake that looked like Patch. Greg made cake and icing on the way out the door for the weekend and I decorated the cake. I thought it looked pretty good :)

We've still been going to A&M football games this year at least home games. We got to go down for Thursday game just adults and made most of the home games.

We did some traveling this year. Spring Break we rented a big cabin up in Broken Bow Oklahoma. We had both grandparents and even the dog with us. We had fun relaxing, walking the dog, watching movies, fishing, and cooking together. We decided to book it again next year :)

While the kids were at Pine Cove Greg and I went to an all inclusive resort in Cancun for a long weekend. We drove through a storm to get to the airport on the way out there, and about the leave the resort at the end our flight was cancelled. Luckily we were able to get a little cheaper room online and just stayed at the resort one more night - free food and drinks and pool time worked out well :) After that we went to Seaside area in Florida for a week with the kids. We rented a house and enjoyed some beach time, good food, and a little shopping. Closer to the end of summer Greg and I took a trip to Napa area with some friends to celebrate a few friends turning 50. Always fun in Napa to try new wines, visit some old favorites and eat good food. We rented a house that had a pool and Jacuzzi which was really nice in the afternoons between wine tastings and dinner.

Over the summer, both kids went to sleep away camp for a week at Pine Cove. They had fun. This year Kasey went by herself and Landon went with a few friends. Landon also went to Tennessee and flew by himself to see a friend.

Kasey is now 11 and in 5th grade. She's taking hip hop with one of the other girl scouts and this year the girls are also doing Pom Squad. They have class each week and perform 4 times through the year including the recital. She really enjoys it. She's still also taking piano. Kasey is now a 2nd year junior in Girl Scouts. She's helping a lot with the Bronze award. At school Kasey has volunteered to do peer lunch helping with some of the kids with special needs. She's also in a Harry Potter club with the awesome librarian. Kasey helps us remember things often and keeps us on our toes. She enjoys watching YouTube and playing minecraft and Roblox. Kasey and I enjoy watching different movies and shopping of course.

Landon is now 13 1/2, and in 8th grade which is his last year of middle school so he's heading to high school next year. Seems crazy. Landon played football again this fall (right tackle and linebacker). He's decided this will be his last year playing football but it was fun watching him play. This year in band he is in the top band at the middle school (honor band) and he got All City and All Region. For All City and Region they spend about 8 hours with a visiting conductor learning multiple pieces of music, and then they perform for the families. We enjoyed All City performance, Honor Band Christmas concert then Regional performance. This year in Scouts Landon was awarded Life Rank which is the rank below Eagle. He also was awarded Order of the Arrow which is a prestigious award in Scouts. The boys are selected by leaders. He's currently Assistant Senior Patrol Leader in the troop. Landon and I enjoy watching some different shows together and have been watching Friends which enables some interesting discussions. Landon really enjoys playing online games and watching YouTube.

We hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May God Bless you this
coming year.


Love, Dana, Greg, Landon, Kasey & Patch Myers

November 2019

11/27-11/30 - I took Wednesday off to hang with the family.  Greg had several people going to Philmont walking multiple days that week in a row.  It was pretty wet so they walked the track at the high school some days then walked Connemara when it dried out some.  Patch loved the 5 mile walks.  Wednesday one of the boys was coming that was afraid of dogs so Greg left Patch home with me.    Kasey rode bikes with friends, I walked Patch 3+ miles and the boys walked Connemara for 5+ miles.

Somehow we ended up doing leaves all afternoon.  I didn't think we had to many but we filled up 25 bags with leaves.  Needless to say we were a bit tired, but Greg and Kasey still started cooking for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving morning I slept in a little.  Kasey came in to tell me it was her birthday :)   She's so excited for her birthday.  Kasey and Greg were working on cooking.  I got showered and help get stuff organized as well.   We got everything ready and the family came over with their food.  We had a great lunch and then celebrated Kasey's birthday with the family.  Fun times and good food as always.

Friday we decided to get Freebirds from lunch to take  break from leftovers - and it's what the birthday girl wanted.  Both kids wanted to do some shopping but Greg and I didn't really want to deal with crowds on Black Friday.  We did do some online shopping though :)

Friday and Saturday I started working on calendars.  Saturday we went to Grammy's house so the kids could fill her Santa hats with kisses.  Always fun.

We had 5th street for dinner while we watched the Aggies lose.

Sunday somehow I slept until 11:30.  We got up, had lunch.  The boys went walking while Kasey and I worked on girl scout stuff.   We all went to dinner then got the Christmas stuff out.  We got 2 trees up and some stuff decorated.

11/25 - Started the day with Kasey's yearly check up, went to work and came home to eat.   A few of the ladies were meeting up for a few drinks to start the holiday week.  It was fun to get out for a little while.

11/20 - Landon performed at the high school with other honor band students from the 3 Allen middle schools.  They played 1 song, but it was neat to see them perform at the Allen PAC.

11/15 - 11/17 - I left 1/2 day  when a big meeting got moved so we could all drive to college station together.  Grammy and Gramps got Landon to where they were leaving for his campout and dinner.  Kasey wanted to come with us.   We got to the house and discovered it had 1 fewer beds than we expected.  The boys went to watch A&M play Gonzaga in basketball.  Kasey and I went to BJs then went to see a movie which was fun.  After the boys got back Kasey was in bed and we watched the first few episodes of the Mandilorian.  I love Disney+.

The next morning we slept in some, had breakfast and hung out at the house for a while.   One of my college roomates was coming in town and staying with us for the weekend.   They arrived and we all headed to Northgate.  We got 2 tables at Duddleys, got food (some from Duddleys and some next door at Freebirds).  We watched some football and got to talk while the kids went to hang out in the back.   It was great to catch up just like we hadn't missed a beat.   We sat together during the football game and the Aggies won.   After the game we went back to the house, got the kids to bed and we stayed up having a few drinks and talking.  Very fun times.

The next morning we slept in a little then headed back home.   We had to girls come over that afternoon to work on their Bronze award.  They made a video to share at their schools and made some small signs to post on boxes they are going to put at the school.

11/14 - Tonight we took Girl Scouts down to Northpark to do cybersecurity at Microsoft store.  It was good teaching them some about computers, hardware, software and how to look at messages and images to see if they are real or not.

11/11 - Landon had regional tryouts for band tonight.  He was 2nd alternate for regionals.  He was disappointed, but that means he was in the top ~300 band kids of 1000+ that tried out.

11/10 - Landon went early to Veterans Day celebration at the church - he was there with other scouts and getting some service hours.   After he got home we had some lunch together.  Then Kasey and I went shopping.  We went to a craft fair and had a lot of fun shopping.  We got several things for Kasey's birthday.   We came home for a little bit and then went to the salon for manicures.

After that the kids and I went to dinner at La Madeleine.  We tried to convince Kasey that she could like it but don't think we were successful.  Landon and I like it :)

11/9 - We had a busy but good day.  I went to a friend's mom's funeral with my mom.  Sad,but it was good to see my friend and her family.   During this time Landon was doing Regional band tryouts.

That afternoon Kasey had her first POM Squad performance at a Veterans Day celebration.   The grandparents were there and enjoyed seeing some of the old cars there.  Pops got to sit in a 53 Ford that was like 52 Ford he had.  Gramps saw one similar to one his dad had and told us a story when his dad turned it on it's side and they had to get it right side up.  That incident tore up part of the side, and Gramps still has scars on his legs from that.

Kasey did well in her performance and seems to really enjoy it.  Right after Kasey's performance Landon found out that he made it to the next round of tryouts for Regionals with band.  So proud of both of them.

11/3 - Today we had a girl scout activity to do programming with TI robots.   The girls got to change colors of lights, then they got to program the robot to move forward, backward and turn around with different increments.  It was really cool seeing them enjoy programming.  Kasey really liked doing it and had the robot do several things in a row.

After that we did low ropes course.  They have it set up at the STEM center several lower obstacles that the girls had to work together to get across.   They did them so they had spotters and then had to pass each other on the obstacle.  It was neat to see them work together and all get to try .